1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to devices and methods for displaying a physiological dataset in graphical form. Specifically, the invention is directed toward devices and methods for displaying trend and variability of a physiological dataset in graphical form.
2. Background of the Invention
Medical professionals use charts of physiological data on a regular basis to come to decisions critical to patient care. Patient information charts have historically been written or printed on paper, however with the advent of electronic displays, charts of patient's data are increasingly found in electronic forms. Everything from patient health information to real-time physiological data is transitioning from paper to electronic form. The transition to electronic form, linked to computers or other programmable equipment, enables new and improved visualizations to be applied to patient data, especially physiological data.
Physiological data is typically acquired from the patient by means of a variety of sensors. Data can be acquired over the course of a patient's life at regularly scheduled exams, or over a series of hours, minutes, or in real-time in the case of continuous monitoring.
Patients in a hospital may be connected to a variety of sensors, monitors and devices which produce real-time traces of physiological signals, real-time and near-real-time calculations of physiological parameters. For example, an ICU patient could be simultaneously connected to devices which record ECG, EMG, EEG, capnography, pulse oximetry, pneumography, blood pressure, etc., yielding a plethora of physiological parameters including heart rate, end-tidal CO2 or end-expiratory CO2, O2 saturation, respiratory rate, tidal volume, and minute ventilation. The sheer number of physiological datasets measured from a patient in the hospital can easily lead to information overload.
The information overload can cause healthcare providers to overlook aspects of the data that could indicate important aspects of the patient's condition or the patient's state. Therefore, there is a need to reduce information overload.